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Purpose
In an ideal world, Black women could employ the self-regulated learning (SRL) strategy of help-seeking to serve their learning goals. However, due to the compounding effects of gendered racism, Black women have to employ the cognitive strategy of picking and choosing their battles (Lewis et al., 2013). Given the need for intersectional and strength-based understandings of various help-seeking processes, this study examines a Black woman’s process of seeking help in engineering.
Theoretical Framing
Guided by SRL research, I conceptualized help-seeking as an active strategy for furthering one’s knowledge, encompassing various (micro)decisions about weighing the costs and benefits of seeking help (Karabenick & Gonida, 2018; Nelson-Le Gall, 1981). I drew from the work of Lewis and colleagues (2013) regarding gendered racial microaggressions (defined as the verbal, behavioral, and environmental manifestations and expressions of gendered racism) and how Black women use the social-psychological appraisal process of picking and choosing their battles when met with such microaggressions. Paired in conversation with help-seeking, I use this process to interpret the participant’s responses to negative help-seeking interactions.
Method
I conducted a single-case interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA; Smith & Nizza, 2022) to explore the specific psychological and contextual experiences of the sole research participant, Tatiana (pseudonym selected by the participant). Tatiana is a Black Latina woman majoring in engineering (rising senior) at a public R1 Hispanic serving institution (HSI) in the Midwestern region of the United States.
With IRB approval, data collection consisted of one 60-minute semi-structured qualitative interview conducted virtually. Following IPA guidelines for a single-case design (Smith & Nizza, 2022), data analysis consisted of reading and listening to the transcript multiple times while annotating interesting statements in the left margin. From these annotations, subordinate themes were identified and then merged into superordinate themes. Additionally, I employed reflexivity by examining my positionality as a Black woman.
Findings
I identified two themes regarding Gendered Racial Microaggressions from (a) Male Professors and (b) Male Peers (Table 1). To contextualize these themes, I first describe Tatiana’s help-seeking process. At the first sign of confusion, Tatiana prefers to figure out a problem individually. If that does not work, she seeks help from her peers, and “professors and teaching assistants (TAs) are always [her] last resort.” She described TAs as “unprepared and unhelpful,” and due to her hypervisible identity salience as a Black woman, she primarily seeks help from other women. In (Table 1), I provide context as to why she seeks help from specific sources. Aligning with IPA, I use thick, in-depth descriptions and quotes representing a help-seeking interaction, her response to a help-seeking interaction, and my interpretive sense-making.
Significance
My findings demonstrate that the norms and practices of acquiring help cannot be considered race—or gender-neutral. Furthermore, my findings extend insights into SRL and how Tatiana’s use of self-regulation serves her academically and in navigating sexism and racism. Ultimately, this work challenges notions of maladaptive learning strategies. Future implications are to create conditions for Black women to receive academic help that is affirming, useful, and equitable.